Inviting the Moon to the Farmhouse

Chapter 54 It's me delivering food again.

Xia Lanyue stood at the door of Zhao Lizhang's house and vaguely heard people talking inside. She called out, "Is anyone home?"

Li Chuan came out from the side room and opened the courtyard gate. "Bringing food to A-Cheng?"

"Mm," Xia Lanyue nodded, then followed Li Chuan into the courtyard and into the side room.

Acheng and a middle-aged man sat back to back on the ground.

That person must be Wei Liangxing, Xia Lanyue thought.

"Why is it you?" Acheng asked Xia Lanyue.

Xia Lanyue didn't say anything, but handed the food box to Acheng.

Acheng took the food, opened it, and began to wolf it down. But halfway through, he suddenly stopped, puffed out his cheeks, and asked Xia Lanyue, "You didn't poison me, did you?!"

"Hmph," Xia Lanyue snorted coldly, "Do you have paranoia?"

"What is that?" Acheng asked.

"Just eat yours. If I poison you, I'll have to pay with my life. That would be a huge loss for me," Xia Lanyue said, rolling her eyes at Acheng.

Ah Cheng understood what he was saying, and he lowered his head to continue eating.

While Acheng was eating, Xia Lanyue slipped out of the house and approached Li Chuan, "Li Chuan, can I ask you something?"

"What is it?" Li Chuan asked.

"So the thief has been caught?" Xia Lanyue asked.

Li Chuan shook his head. "None of them acknowledged it."

"If they aren't thieves, why not release them?"

“They are suspects. With the evidence we have now, it’s not enough to convict them, so they cannot leave until we collect the necessary witness testimonies and physical evidence,” Li Chuan said.

"That means they can only be convicted after the evidence is collected."

Li Chuan smiled and said, "Not necessarily. Maybe the evidence will come out and prove them innocent?"

"Ah, that's it."

"We'll let you know when we have the results, don't worry," Li Chuan said.

Xia Lanyue nodded. She wasn't worried about Acheng, but rather about the stack of silver notes she had.

Xia Lanyue returned to the Xia family home and went straight to the main house to find Xia Huifang. She knocked on the door and said, "Aunt Xia, I'm back."

Xia Huifang opened the door, took Xia Lanyue's hand, and they went inside together.

This was Xia Lanyue's first time entering the main house, which was also the main house. The house was quite large, with a table and chairs for receiving guests in the middle, and a dark room on each side separated by a door. One of these rooms was Xia Huifang's bedroom.

"How is Acheng?" Xia Huifang asked anxiously.

“He’s doing well, he’s eating really well,” Xia Lanyue said. “He asked me to tell you not to worry, he’s fine.”

"Did Village Chief Zhao make things difficult for him?" Xia Huifang was still a little worried.

"No, when I went there, there were only the two of them in the house, and no one made things difficult for them."

Xia Huifang nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you for your hard work, A-Yue. It's so kind of you to come all this way."

“I’m fine, Aunt Xia. Where’s Dai You? I didn’t see him in the yard,” Xia Lanyue asked.

"He went to deliver food to A Niu, he'll be back in a bit. With you all here these past few days, Pang Gao and I have had it much easier, thank you so much," Xia Huifang said, holding Xia Lanyue's hand.

"Aunt Xia, you're too kind. There's no need to stand on ceremony."

"You too, make yourself at home, don't be shy," Xia Huifang said.

Xia Lanyue gave a stiff smile. "I understand, Aunt Xia. I'll go back to my room now. You should get some rest, Aunt Xia." After saying that, Xia Lanyue walked out of the house and closed the door to the main room behind her.

The next morning, Xia Lanyue was awakened by voices outside the door. She walked out of the house in a daze and found the courtyard gate wide open, with Xia Huifang and Xia Yao standing in the yard.

Xia Lanyue noticed Xia Yao at a glance. Unlike usual, he was dressed in a plain-colored robe and a headscarf, looking very formal, which accentuated his refined temperament.

When Xia Lanyue first saw him dressed like this, coupled with his already outstanding appearance, she was momentarily stunned.

Xia Yao seemed to sense Xia Lanyue's gaze and looked in her direction.

When their eyes met, Xia Lanyue's heart felt as if it had been gently bumped, stirring up ripples.

But Xia Yao quickly looked away.

Without Xia Yao's gaze, Xia Lanyue relaxed. She breathed a sigh of relief, composed herself, and then walked towards the mother and child.

"What happened, Aunt Xia?" Xia Lanyue asked.

Xia Huifang turned around, her face full of displeasure, and shook her head at Xia Lanyue, "It's nothing, Lanyue, you should go back and rest too."

Just then, Tian Guang pushed his wheelbarrow past the gate and looked into the yard. "Oh, everyone's here. Hurry up and go to Chief Zhao's house, they're about to distribute grain."

Upon hearing this, Xia Lanyue happily ran to Xia Huifang, but before she could speak, Xia Huifang said, "We're not going."

Xia Lanyue was a little confused when she heard this.

Xia Huifang walked to the door and said to Tian Guang, "Uncle, go ahead, we'll talk later."

"Oh?! Okay, I'll go first, and I'll help you haul the grain later," Tian Guang said, pushing the cart forward.

Xia Huifang closed half of the door, walked up to Xia Yao, glared at him, and said, "If you're going, then hurry up and go." After saying that, she went into the kitchen.

Unable to contain her curiosity, Xia Lanyue asked Xia Yao, "What's wrong, Aunt Xia?"

Xia Yao didn't answer her, only saying, "I'm going to Village Chief Zhao's house," and then walked straight out the door, leaving Xia Lanyue standing alone in the yard, completely bewildered.

"A-Yue, close the gate to the yard," Xia Huifang called out to Xia Lanyue from inside the kitchen.

"Okay," Xia Lanyue obediently went up and closed the door, then went into the kitchen. "Aunt Xia, should we ask Dai You to help Xia Yao move the grain? With his leg like this, he probably can't move it, right?"

“No need, he’s going to get a notarized document. There’s no grain for our family this time,” Xia Huifang said.

"Huh? Why? I remember Village Chief Zhao saying that it was distributed proportionally, and your family should have received the most."

"You don't know, that silly boy Xia Yao himself told the village chief to distribute the grain to others first," Xia Huifang was about to cry.

"Ah?!" Xia Lanyue exclaimed in surprise again. So it was Xia Yao who had asked for it. "This shows that... Xia Yao is a man of noble character, loyal and righteous, and considerate of the big picture. This is also thanks to Aunt Xia's good teaching."

Xia Huifang sneered, then sighed and said, "He doesn't know the cost of living when he's not in charge of the household."

"Aunt Xia, don't worry. Next time we find some grain, it will all be yours."

“There won’t be a next time. Village Chief Zhao said there’s a high chance we won’t be able to find those thirty bushels of grain, so we should be prepared,” Xia Huifang said, pounding her chest. Then she waved to Xia Lanyue and stopped talking about the troublesome matter.

Xia Lanyue was a perceptive person and wisely stopped bothering her.

During the meal, Xia Lanyue didn't dare to make a sound. Dai You kept putting food on her plate, which made her stop him, saying, "I'm full, I'm full, stop putting food on my plate."

Dai You wouldn't listen to her. "You didn't eat last night, so you should eat more today."

Xia Lanyue was speechless. She grabbed Dai You's chopsticks to prevent the food on them from falling into her bowl. "I'll get angry if you keep taking food from my chopsticks."

Dai You glanced at Xia Lanyue before putting away his chopsticks.

"You guys eat slowly, I'll take the food to Acheng," Xia Huifang said as she packed the food into a food box.

“I’ll go, Aunt Xia. I also have something I want to ask Village Chief Zhao,” Xia Lanyue said, standing up.

"That's fine then, I'll trouble you to make this trip," Xia Huifang placed the food box on the dining table and turned to pack another food box.

“I’ll go with you,” Dai You said, putting down his chopsticks.

"Okay, I've finished eating. Let's go."